ULAS
University of Leicester Archaeological Services

St. Nicholas Place 2002-3: Roman Phases

The 2002 Archaeological Evaluation
Excavation in 2002 in cellars beneath standing warehouse buildings at 9 St. Nicholas Place revealed well-preserved and deeply stratified Roman archaeological deposits. These consisted of a minimum of two phases of building activity, the first of which predated the establishment of the Roman street grid and possibly represents the earliest evidence for masonry structures within the Roman town. Although it was not possible to determine the function of the building, it is likely to have been of high status, and potentially represents an early public building positioned at the centre of the town. The discovery of a gravel metalled surface may represent the late first-century ‘setting out’ of an open area in the centre of the town for the undertaking of commercial activity prior to construction of the forum. The foundations of a number of walls subsequently cut through the gravel metallings. These walls were aligned with the street grid, and thus appear to represent part of the second constructional phase, dating to the first part of the second century. Destruction deposits, including fallen wall material and roof material were also encountered. Such deposits are rarely found within Leicester and may contain significant material regarding the nature of the demise of the town at the end of the Roman period.
Although the character of the buildings dating to the second main construction phase proved difficult to define due to the nature of evaluation, the masonry walls were sufficiently substantial to represent the internal walls of a public building. The size and substantial nature of the masonry revealed, and the lack of any highly decorated wall plaster or mosaic flooring, would imply that the buildings were public, rather than domestic in function. The discovery of possible stylobate blocks could infer the existence of a grandiose structure, possibly even a temple, but this can only be conjecture from the keyhole nature of the evaluation.

The 2003 Excavation
The probable intersection of the Roman Fosse Way with a north-south aligned street, defining the southeast corner of the insula block directly to the east of the forum, was identified during the subsequent excavation phase of 2003. The deep accumulation of successive gravel metallings subsequently formed a substantial foundation for a twelfth-century undercroft building. Whilst the precise point of intersection was uncertain, the position of two walls may indicate a minimum road width of c.8m. A number of walls and fragmentary lengths of masonry observed in association with the street metalling sequences presumably relate to roadside buildings or structures. Unfortunately the short lengths observed in small keyholes did not permit speculation as to their dating or further interpretation. However, a number of fragments appeared to be aligned broadly east to west and, therefore, may pre-date the second-century formalisation of the Roman street grid.

Read more about this site in Projects, or click here